As results have now been declared in the 13th Scottish Parliament Election, Parliament can set out the schedule for our opening and return to business.

In short, the opening comes in three parts. The first is the election of a First Minister, the second is the presentation of and debate on a Programme for Government, and the final part is the return to normal business.

Party Leaders are asked to, as soon as possible after the election, submit a list of their MSPs to to r/MHOCHolyrood, alongside which constituency or regional list, they would like them to represent, and how many 'votes' each MSP has - in accordance with the rules laid out below. Constituencies and regional lists can be found on the master spreadsheet.

The opening schedule for the 13th Scottish Parliament is as follows:

• 6th August to 14th August at 10pm BST - Coalition Forming Period and Nomination Period for First Minister, running concurrently with the swearing in of MSPs

• 15th August to 19th August at 10pm BST - First Ministerial Candidate Debate

• 20th August to 23rd August at 10pm BST - First Ministerial Vote

• 24th August to 30th August at 10pm BST - Assuming a First Minister is elected, the incoming Government will have 5 days to submit a Programme for Government. It will be read the day after it is submitted. Any possible timetable changes if it is submitted substantially early in the week will be announced at the time.

• 31st August to 3rd September - A debate shall be held on the Programme for Government, unless it is submitted early, and then this debate shall begin the day after submission.

Regular business:

• The normal business schedule shall resume on the 1st of September

With the opening schedule decided, we now move on to the submission of MSPs. The distribution of MSPs is as follows:

SPXIII Results

We therefore now move on to the first stage in the process of opening the Parliament for the next term, the Confirmation of Members-elected.

The registered leader of each party should submit a list of MSPs for the start of the term to the Parliament via a mod-mail to r/MHOCHolyrood. This list should contain:

• the reddit username of each MSP;

• how many votes each MSP is allocated;

• their preferences for constituency seats.

This mod-mail must also indicate which MSP will be representing the party on the committee for the purposes of amendment votes. If this has not been decided, it can be submitted later.

This MUST be done BEFORE 10pm on the 18th of August, but preferably before the FM Debate begins. It must be submitted before the First Ministerial Vote. As per the standing orders, the First Minister must be an MSP, and non MSP candidates will be disqualified.

MSPs must be sworn in before the FM vote starts

Allocating votes

Each MSP shall have a certain number of seats allocated to them, with the total number of seats held by each MSP adding up to the total number of seats they achieved at the election.

The gap between the MSP with the fewest number of votes and the largest number of votes must not be more than one. For example, if a party had 12 seats, the allocation could be 3-3-2-2-2, but it could not be 4-4-2-1-1.

Throughout the term as MSPs are added or leave, the allocation should be changed accordingly, including which constituency or regional list seat that person will hold.

Where an MSP defects, resigns or is otherwise no longer a holder of that seat, it is up to respective parties to ensure they re-allocate those seats. This will not automatically be done by Speakership so to avoid wasted votes which are not allocated, it is encouraged you reallocate seats at the earliest opportunity when required.

Preference for seats

Under the system, each MSP can either represent a real world constituency. When submitting the list of MSPs, party leaders are advised to submit each MSPs' preferences for which seat they will represent - note that it isn't guaranteed, so submitting 3 or so preferences is useful. Do not list the same number of constituencies as seats a person represents.

The full list of seats can be found here

When it comes to allocating seats, the priority will be determined by which parties got the most votes. For example, if in Highlands and Islands Forward and Labour picked the same seat, preferences would be given to Labour, but if the SNP also picked the same seat then preference would be given to them.

Example seat submission

model-avtron (Na h-Eileanan an Iar) - 10 seats

Muffin5136 (Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale) - 9 seats

BlueEarlGrey (North East Fife) - 5 seats

If you have an issue or question, feel free to ask in the #holyrood-questions channel of the MHoC Devolved Discord server, or DM @muffinmck (the Presiding Officer) or me, @avtron (the Deputy Presiding Officer / Leas-oifigear-Riaghlaidh) on Discord.